Handheld striking tools such as various types of hammers, pickaxes and the like have been used by people in a variety of disciplines over many generations as leveraged devices for providing a striking force to accomplish a seemingly endless variety of tasks. For example, a claw hammer, commonly weighing from 7 to 32 ounces is used for performing carpentry work wherein a striking force sufficient for driving a nail into wood is often required, as is the need for removing nails from wood or ripping apart lumber using the claw portion of the hammer.
Handheld striking tools, such as the conventional claw hammer described above, are most commonly used as third-class levers for providing a striking force to accomplish tasks such as driving a nail into wood, shaping or forming various bendable or malleable materials, and a variety of similar uses. Third-class levers are levers wherein the fulcrum, or pivot point is located at one end of a bar or rod, and in the case of a hand-held striking tool such as a claw hammer, the fulcrum is the users wrist, wherein by the user grasping the rod or bar by a handle at one end and swinging the rod or bar with a striking head attached to the rod or bar at the opposite end of a handle end, striking force is provided by the sudden deceleration of the movement of the hammer handle at the user's wrist, and the load is the resistance presented by, for example, a portion of wood into which a nail is being driven by the hammer head portion striking the nail.
The head portion of a hand-held striking device such as the conventional claw hammer described above, is typically a significant distance from the fulcrum, in this case the user's wrist, and during swinging of the striking tool, the head portion moves much faster than the movement being applied at the user's wrist, and the increased speed of the head portion greatly multiplies the applied force with which a striking device head strikes a nail, for example. The longer the claw hammer's handle portion is, for example, the faster the head travels during swinging of the striking tool, and thus, the greater the force of the head origin striking the nail, overcoming the load, or resistance of the wood into which the nail is driven.
Handheld striking tools, such as claw hammers, are also commonly used as first-class levers to provide a lifting or prying force to accomplish a variety of tasks, which commonly include removing nails previously driven into wood, for example, or ripping apart pieces of wood or other such building material, and so on. Such first-class levers wherein the load to be overcome is at or near one end of a rod or bar, the effort, or force is applied at or near the opposite end of the same rod or bar, and the fulcrum, or pivot, is located somewhere along the rod or bar in between the applied force and the load at opposite ends of the rod or bar.
A common example of a hand-held striking tool being used as a first-class lever is a claw hammer being used to remove nails previously driven into wood or other building material, wherein the load to be overcome is the wood causing friction against an embedded nail. When such a hand-held striking tool is used as a first-class lever, such as a conventional claw hammer as described above, the force is applied at one end of a handle of substantial length, the fulcrum typically being near the opposite end of the handle which holds the head portion, or striking portion of the hand-held striking tool.
In a conventional claw hammer, for example, the head portion is attached at one end of a bar or rod, and a handle portion is at the opposite end of the bar or rod. FIGS. 1a and 1b of the present application exemplifies such a prior art conventional hand-held striking tool, the versatility upon which the present invention provides substantial improvement. The head portion of a conventional claw hammer as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 comprises an interface for attaching the hammer head to the hammer handle, utilizing an opening extending through the hammer head which accommodates insertion of the interface portion of the handle. This opening is known as the eye in the art. An impact head or striking portion extends a substantial distance from the center interface portion of the hammer head in one direction, and the curved claw end, typically used for removing nails or ripping apart building material, for example, extends a substantially equal distance from the center interface portion of the hammer head in the opposite direction.
However, one certain drawback in conventional claw hammers such as shown in the prior art example of FIG. 1, is that the versatility of the claw hammer is substantially compromised in that, if the user wishes to remove a nail from material into which it has been previously driven, and the driven nail is located close to a protruding object, such as a wall stud or other such obstruction, such that the distance between the nail to be removed and the obstacle is less than the distance between the center of the interface portion of the hammer head and the portion in the slot of the claw portion appropriate for gripping around the nails circumference under the head of the nail, the user will often not be able to use the claw hammer for removing the nail, and must rely on another separate nail-pulling tool in order to remove the nail from the material in such a tight space. The user's cost, maintenance and effort required for providing such work thereby increases. It is therefore desirable for the user to be able to remove nails from such tight spaces utilizing a single, more versatile claw hammer suitable for such purposes, which also serves to remove nails in the conventional manner with the claw end while also providing the striking force for driving nails, and the ability to easily and conveniently rip apart wood or other such building materials, as described above.
Another drawback in such conventional claw hammers is that while pulling nails in a conventional manner utilizing the claw end of the head portion of the claw hammer, the interface portion of the hammer head, which is typically secured with one or a plurality of retaining wedges driven down into the interface portion of the handle, may cause damage to the material upon which the upper surface of the hammer head portion makes contact during the action of pulling the nail. If the upper portion of the hammer head-to-handle interface is not relatively flush with the upper surface of the hammer head, or the retaining wedge(s) driven into the interface portion from above are either driven below the upper surface of the interface portion, or are protruding out of the interface portion above the level of the upper surface of a hammer head making contact with the material when pulling the nail, the surface of the hammer head which rocks along the material from which the nail is being pulled is not a smooth surface, and thereby may cause unwanted damage to the material. It is therefore desirable for the top surface of the hammer head to be as smooth as possible in order to avoid such possible damage, which is difficult to accomplish utilizing the head to handle interface as described for the prior art example presented of a conventional claw hammer.
As is well-known in the art, the weakest juncture of a hand-held striking device such as the conventional claw hammer described herein is the striking head to hammer handle interface. As described above, a conventional method of interfacing a hammer head and handle allows striking and pulling stresses, which are substantially concentrated at the head portion of the striking tool, to promote loosening, damage and separation of the interface, or loosening or separation of the retaining wedges driven into the upper portion of a handle interface for securing the interface. If, at any time during operation of the striking tool, one or any of the retaining wedges utilized becomes loose or separates from its embedded position in the hammer handle interface, injury to the user or persons near, and/or damage to the materials is a very likely result. It is therefore also desirable for the securing portion of the head to handle interface, specifically the point along the interface portion of the handle into which retaining wedges or other securing apparatus apply their securing force, to be located further down along the handle from the upper head portion, as is the typical securing manner for a conventional claw hammer as described above, such that the retaining wedges or other securing apparatus, and their securing point, is much less susceptible to the substantial striking and pulling stresses which are typically concentrated at a head portion of the striking tool during striking or pulling a nail, for example.
The conventional types of head to handle interfaces and methods for securing such interfaces as described above are commonly used with many different types of hand-held striking tools, other than claw hammers. For example, sledge hammers, axes, and so on, commonly use such interfaces and methods for securing, and the conventional solutions therefore still present the problem of the striking and pulling forces been concentrated over a very short distance at the interface located at the upper portion of the head portion of the striking tool. The intensified stress at this small area is cause of the majority of hand-held striking tool failures, where the structural integrity of the head to handle interface is compromised. Such conventional head to handle interfaces according to conventional art often fail because of such concentrated stresses at the head portion of the striking tool.
What is clearly needed is and improved method and apparatus for securing the head of a striking tool to its handle which provides both a durable and secure interface which is substantially less susceptible to the extreme striking and pulling forces. The striking tool utilizing such an improved head to handle interface securing method and apparatus, has a securing portion of the interface which extends along a greater portion of the interface as compared to conventional interfaces described above, and is also located further down the handle interface portion from the upper head portion of the striking tool. By relocating the interface securing point from the upper-most portion of the handle interface, to a point lower along the handle interface, the manufacturer is able to design a completely smooth upper surface of the head portion of the striking tool, such that when using the striking tool for removing nails in the conventional or non-conventional manner as will be disclosed, the possibility of damage being caused to the material along which the top surface of the head portion rocks during pulling of a nail, is substantially minimized.
What is also clearly needed is to enable the user, utilizing a single hand-held striking tool such as a claw hammer, to not only provide the striking force for driving nails and an improved ability for ripping apart materials, and conventional capability for removing nails utilizing an extended claw end, but also the ability to remove nails from wood or other building materials wherein the nail to be removed is adjacent to, or closely located to an obstruction such as a wall stud, for example. Such non-conventional nail pulling capability is enabled by a smooth upper surface of the head portion by virtue of relocating the handle to head interface securing point lower along the interface portion, and the non-conventional location of a nail pulling apparatus along the upper smooth surface of the head portion. Such an improved method and apparatus is herein provided below in enabling detail.